How to create custom Ringtones (m4r files) from Songs in iTunes

Question

Ox Cx Author

Level 1

17 points

How to create custom Ringtones (m4r files) from Songs in iTunes

Jakarta, 14 June 2013

On Mac OS : 10.7.5 (Lion)

On iTunes : 11.0.4

Difficulty : intermediate - hard

Assuming you know basic Ctrl+Click and Option+Drag...

Full correct steps should be like this :

1) Select a favourite song in iTunes program to be made into Ringtone...
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2) "Get Info" on that song name and make any 0:30 seconds portion of that song....
(specify "Start" & "Stop" time - under "Options" – to any 30-seconds duration and click OK)
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3) Right-click or Ctrl-Click again on same song name and select "Create AAC Version" to create an .m4a file...
(when done iTunes will create a Chime)
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4) to locate the created .m4a file easily, Ctrl-Click again on same song name and select "Show in Finder" from the pop-up list...
(iTunes will automatically point the folder location of the original .mp3 & the newly created .m4a files... keep this window open for later...)
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5) change the .m4a file to .m4r as suggested...
(rename to whatever you like but you must change the extension to .m4r)
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6) At this point, the m4r(original) file isn't a "Ringtone" file yet... which we'll need to change now...)
(check under "Get Info" > "Kind" : it's still "Apple MPEG-4 Audio")
...1st by dragging that newly changed .m4r(ori) file to somewhere out of that same default folder it was created by iTunes...
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------{ this is where most confusions occur, take note here, it gets rather complicated }
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7) Once it's outside of that folder, Double Click the m4r(ori) file and iTunes will play...
(u can stop it immediately...) this is just to let iTunes automatically convert that m4r(ori) file into a new duplicate & places it inside the initial default folder where the original .mp3 file is kept... we kept the window open previously, remember?
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8) Locate that duplicate .m4r(new & true) file, in that same .mp3 folder and now DUPLICATE-Drag (press Option while dragging to get the "+" sign) it to the "TONES" folder in your default apple folder structure. (check under "Get Info", this .m4r(new) File's "Kind" should be "Ringtone")
//to get to that "TONES" Folder : First Locate your iTunes default Music Folder in your Mac --> usually it's in your Default "MUSIC" folder --> Navigate to "iTunes Media" --> Navigate to "Tones". !! Keep this window open to make the transfer manually !!
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9) Once your duplicate is placed inside the "Tones" folder, double-click on that duplicate .m4r(true) file and let iTunes play, it should automatically place that ringtone file into the "Ringtone" sidebar List in the iTunes program... (check program to see) 😁
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Somehow u needed both duplicates : 1 – inside the default initial .mp3 folder & 1 – inside the Tones Folder which we Duplicate+Drag into... and both must be "Ringtone" – Kind... for this to work.
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10) There you go. Now you can Sync / Delete / Add the whole Ringtone contents to your iPhone as you wish.
//Don't forget to set SYNC ON under the iphone "Tones" tab in your iTunes - iPhone screen... and click big SYNC button at the bottom of iTunes program & wait for the magic.

( Finally you can check inside your iPhone "Sounds" settings and hopefully if all steps done correctly, the bloodycomplicatedringtone selection will be there. Enjoy! 😎

iMac (21.5-inch Mid 2010), Mac OS X (10.7.5)

Posted on Jun 13, 2013 5:05 PM

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Answer 1

fromsouth

Level 5

4,945 points

Jun 13, 2013 5:41 PM in response to Ox Cx

You are getting kudos from me, for knowing how to Google, copy and paste.

Difficulty - hard to intermediate. 😉

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Answer 2

Ocean20

Level 6

13,727 points

Jun 13, 2013 5:47 PM in response to Ox Cx

Or you could go here and also get cute little screen captures as well http://www.demogeek.com/2009/07/31/how-to-add-custom-ringtones-to-your-iphone/

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Answer 3

Aug 14, 2013 6:59 PM in response to Ox Cx

Hi --

I'm using iTunes 11.0.4 on OSX 10.8.4 and am having a hard time following your instructions to create a ringtone from a snippet of a .mp3 file using iTunes:

1) Select a favourite song in iTunes program to be made into Ringtone... CHECK!
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2) "Get Info" on that song name and make any 0:30 seconds portion of that song.... CHECK ! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------
3) Right-click or Ctrl-Click again on same song name and select "Create AAC Version" to create an .m4a file... PROBLEM!

It's when I hit Step 3 that I have a problem -- my "right click menu" at that point looks like this:

There's no option to "create AAC version." Nor does this option appear anywhere in iTunes that I can find.

It really shouldn't be this confusing to create a freaking ringtone. HELP PLEASE!

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Answer 4

ckuan

Level 10

120,680 points

Aug 14, 2013 7:40 PM in response to LordJohnOfCupertino

To have that option do:

Mac's iTunes > Preferences... > General tab > Import Settings > Import Using :AAC Encoder, Settings:iTunes Plus

Now when you right click or control click, you get "Create AAC version" in the popup.

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Answer 5

Aug 14, 2013 8:22 PM in response to ckuan

Thanks! Big help! 😀

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Answer 6

ckuan

Level 10

120,680 points

Aug 14, 2013 8:26 PM in response to LordJohnOfCupertino

You are welcome.

Also like to add Ringtone duration can be up to 35 seconds max.

Message was edited by: ckuan

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Answer 7

coltca

Level 1

11 points

Aug 22, 2013 3:53 PM in response to Ox Cx

This is much more simple,

set import setting for aac as mentioned above

click get info on song prefered to create ringtone with

under options tab change stop time to 40 sec. max, or possibly a 40 sec. durration like mentioned above

right click, click song create aac version

right click, click show in finder

in iTunes right click new aac file, delete, keep file

in finder change extention to m4r

in iTunes click file add to library, add m4r

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Answer 8

coltca

Level 1

11 points

Aug 22, 2013 4:27 PM in response to coltca

to add a full song as ringtone to iphone

do as mentioned above

after adding to library

as mentioned above, right click, create a full length aac version

right click, show in finder

in itunes, click newly created full length aac file, delete, keep file

in finder change extension to m4r

different then mentioned above, in finder find original aac ringtone files added to library, usually in a folder named tones

in finder, change original aac files extension to .m4r_

in finder find full length aac file, drag to folder where original ringtone aac file is located, usually in a folder named tones

quit itunes

reopen itunes

in finder, delete .m4r_ file

connect iphone, sync tones, sync

ringtones might need to have not been synced prior, on the chance any were, possibly remove them prior to doing this process

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Answer 9

Oct 24, 2013 12:41 PM in response to Ox Cx

The easiest way:

Get Amadeus Lite ($24.99 in the app store).

Open music file and edit the portion you want.

Save as "iPhone ringtone".

The end.

Now, I already had this app (the pro version) for sound editing purposes for years. I doubt I would have spend $25 to only do ring tones, but I guess maybe there are some out there that would. Amadeus is a great sound editor, even the Lite version is awesome and I recommend it.

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Answer 10

Gerald7

Level 1

4 points

Nov 6, 2013 7:40 PM in response to Ox Cx

I'm trying this process and I get to the stage to step 2 but as soon as i try step 3 i get this error.

"None of the selected files were converted because they could not be found"

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Answer 11

Apr 9, 2014 4:23 PM in response to Ox Cx

Hi,

I followed your steps EXACTLY, and when I clicked on my .m4r duplicated to the Tones folder, it played in iTunes, but the file disappeared in the Finder Tones folder, and was simply being played in Music in iTunes. Any suggestions? Thank you!

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Answer 12

kb1951

Level 10

124,097 points

Apr 9, 2014 4:26 PM in response to wendizzle27

This is what I used: http://www.simonblog.com/2012/12/01/itunes-11-how-to-create-free-ringtone-and-te xt-tone/

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Answer 13

Apr 9, 2014 4:33 PM in response to wendizzle27

Well if anyone else was having the same problem as me, the solution is plug in your **** phone. Hope that saves some people the frustration.

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Answer 14

Apr 9, 2014 4:34 PM in response to kb1951

Thank you!

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Answer 15

May 2, 2014 7:03 PM in response to Ox Cx

It simply isn't syncronising with 'tones' - it used to work when you select, sync and then deselect, sync and then select and sync for the last time. However, this is stopped and not working any more.

Did anyone find a way to force sync the tone file with the iPhone 5s? it is very annoying! it shouldn't be that difficult to do...

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